Converge Weekly

The Super Bowl is consistently one of the most-watched television programs of the year. Even as network television viewership continues to erode — thanks to cable, timeshifting and Internet options — advertisers are still willing to pay big ad dollars for a spot on Super Bowl Sunday.

That could be changing. For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi will not have any ads in the Super Bowl. Instead, the company will be spending $20 million on a social media campaign it’s calling The Pepsi Refresh Project.

Such a large move is noteworthy for any company, however Pepsi’s symbiotic relationship with the Super Bowl makes this shift to new media that much more seismic. ABC News notes that Pepsi spent $142 million on Super Bowl ads over the last decade. Pepsi’s ads are often some of the most iconic, and the company has historically pulled out all the stops for the Super Bowl.

The Pepsi Refresh Project

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Rather than spending money on a Super Bowl ad, Pepsi will launch the Pepsi Refresh Project on January 13, 2010. At that time, users can submit their ideas to Pepsi for ways to refresh their communities, making the world a better place.

Voting will begin on February 1, 2010, and the projects that get the most votes will be funded by Pepsi. Pepsi expects to spend $20 million to fund thousands of projects.

Will It Work?

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This is an interesting strategy, especially for a company that continues to spend much of its advertising budget on television. Like other social media campaigns, execution is key. If Pepsi can effectively orchestrate the Pepsi Refresh Project, the company can build brand awareness while also helping out communities across the world. On the flip side, if not executed properly, the company could wind up spending $20 million on philanthropic causes (which is to be commended), without getting the benefits of a buzz-generating ad campaign.

For Pepsi’s sake, let’s hope that the team it uses with the Pepsi Refresh Project has some better insight into social media norms than the agency hired to do the AMP iPhone app.

For the sake of nostalgia, here’s one of Pepsi’s biggest ads from the last decade, Britney Spears (at the height of her career) singing the “Joy of Pepsi” in 2001:

SOURCE: mashable.com